EU court removes Hamas from terror blacklist

The EU General Court has ordered that the Palestinian militant group Hamas be removed from the bloc’s terror blacklist. The move comes over four years after Hamas appealed its terror designation before the EU.

The European Union first banned Hamas’ military wing, the Izz
a-Din al-Qassam Brigades, in 2002, though the organization’s
social and political divisions were not put on the terror list.
Following a series of Hamas suicide bombings during the second
intifada or uprising in September 2003, the EU extended the ban
to include the organization as a whole.

On September 12, 2010, Hamas appealed the ban, largely on
procedural grounds. In its complaint, the group cited a lack of
due process, specifically, that it had not been properly informed
the act was being implemented. It further asserted that as a
“legitimately-elected government,” it cannot be labeled
as a terrorist organization, saying such a designation flies in
the face of “the principle of non-interference in the
internal matters of a State.”

The court accepted the organization’s argument, saying that the
decision to remove Hamas from the list was not based on an
examination of Hamas’ activities, but rather on an examination of
the procedures used to institute the 2003 ban in the first place.
Unless an appeal brings closure, however, a funding freeze
against the group and sanctions against its members will remain
in place for three more months.

The lawyer for Hamas, Liliane Glock, told AFP she was
“satisfied with the decision.”

Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq lauded the decision, saying the
court had righted an injustice done to the organization, which he
said is a “national freedom movement,” and not a
terrorist organization, the Jerusalem Post reports.

But a deputy from Israel’s major right-wing Likud party, Danny
Danon, said, "The Europeans must believe that there blood is
more sacred than the blood of the Jews which they see as
unimportant. That is the only way to explain the EU court's
decision to remove Hamas from the terror blacklist."

"In Europe they must have forgotten that Hamas kidnapped
three boys and fired thousands of rockets last summer at Israeli
citizens," he added.

Shortly after the ruling, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu called on the EU to keep Hamas on its list of terrorist
organizations.

"We expect them to immediately put Hamas back on the
list," Reuters cites Netanyahu as saying in a statement.
"Hamas is a murderous terrorist organization which in its
charter states its goal is to destroy Israel."

The EU and Israel have attempted to downplay the ruling, saying
that groups standing within Europe as terror organizations will
not change. Israeli and European officials say the court will be
given a few months to rebuild its file against Hamas with
evidence of the group’s activities, which will enable it to be
placed back on the list of terror organizations, the Israeli news
portal Ynet reports.

According to RT's Paula Slier, Israeli politicians "across
the political spectrum" have unanimously condemned what they
call a "temporary" removal.

#Israeli
politicians across the political spectrum have unanimously
condemned this 'temporary' removal.

According to Slier, EU officials have given Israel assurances
that Brussels’ position has not changed, saying Wednesday’s
ruling was a “technical” mistake. Officials from the 28-member
bloc further said the court did not have sufficient authority to
affect the entire EU’s position.

In the interim, however, EU member states will be empowered to
establish diplomatic ties with Hamas.

The EU ambassador to Israel, Lars Faaborg-Andersen, will meet
with Israel’s Foreign Minister, Nissim Ben-Sheetrit, on Wednesday
to discuss the matter, Israeli daily Haaretz reports.
Faaborg-Andersen is expected to reiterate that the EU’s position
on Hamas remains unchanged, and that a future decision to
reclassify Hamas as a terror organization is forthcoming.

During the January 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections,
Hamas defeated the PLO-affiliated Fatah party and has governed
the Gaza Strip for the past seven years. Some countries have
treated Hamas as a terrorist organization, while others have not.
While Australia, Canada, Egypt, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Qatar, the
US and the UK all treat Hamas or its military wing as a terrorist
organization, other states, including China, Iran, Russia and
Turkey, do not.

Hamas leaders have made several diplomatic trips to Russia to
discuss a range of issues, from Palestinian reconciliation to
economic relations.